Air India launches Mumbai-San Francisco direct flight, more flights by next year | Mint – Mint

Union Minister for Civil Aviation, Jyotiraditya Scindia virtually inaugurated the flight services between Mumbai and San Francisco which will operate thrice a week.

The newly-inducted Boeing 777-200LR aircraft will operate the flights on Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday. According to a release, the Mumbai-San Francisco flight will take the total number of direct flights between India-US to 40 per week.

The recent launch came after the airline on 2 December, launched direct flights between Bengaluru and San Francisco, thrice a week. Currently, the airline operated non-stop flights from Mumbai to Newark, from Delhi to New York, Newark, Washington DC, San Francisco, and Chicago, and from Bengaluru to San Francisco.

“Air India continues to develop Mumbai as an important hub for international as well as domestic traffic. The launch of the Mumbai-San Francisco route will be followed by Mumbai-New York City (JFK), Mumbai-Frankfurt, and Mumbai-Paris. Additional domestic flights originating from Mumbai will also be added,” the release said.

While inaugurating the flight services, Union Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia affirmed that the civil aviation sector of India is on the cusp of transformation and boom. “We need to push further, stronger, faster…,” the minister said, according to the news agency PTI.

Campbell Wilson, the CEO and MD of the airline tagged the launch as a significant step in the journey of Air India. “It is a significant milestone in restoring a major Air India long-haul hub in the city of Mumbai,” he said.

Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde also joined the inauguration event from Mumbai. The Chief Minister vowed to increase the air connectivity in the state of Maharashtra and said that the state is doing expansion work and plans to develop helipads in every taluka.

With inputs from PTI